Algonquin Indian Tales eBook

“When she heard this she was very angry, for,
with all her foolishness, she had only acted as she
did because of her vanity and love of flattery.
Now that the marten had dared make such a request
she resolved that he should be punished; so one day,
when he was sitting beside her and saying a lot of
foolish flattery, she heard the footsteps of her husband
approaching, but did not warn the king marten.

“So the man thus caught the old marten sitting
by the side of his wife. At this he was much
annoyed, and as the marten suddenly ran out the man
asked the woman what it meant. So she told him
all that the marten had said, and of his impertinence
in asking her to leave him and become the marten’s
wife. At this the man was very indignant, and
so they arranged to punish the marten.

“The next time the man went off he told his
wife to fill the kettle with water and put it on the
fire to boil. Then the man took his traps and
started off as though he were going on a long journey.
But he only went a little way, just far enough to
throw the marten off his guard, and, sure enough,
while he was watching he saw the marten go into the
wigwam.

“Then the man came quietly to the door and listened.
He heard the marten urging his wife to leave and run
away with him. Then he suddenly sprang into the
tent and shouted out:

“‘Old king marten, what are you doing
here? How dare you talk to my wife?’

“So saying, the man seized the kettle of boiling
water and threw its contents at the marten, severely
scalding him. The marten tore at his burning
breast as he dashed away into the woods. And from
that day to this all martens have that whitish spot
on their chests caused by that burn.”

“What became of the woman?” said Sagastao.

“Never mind now. We have wasted too much
time already on such a good-for-nothing conceited
flirt,” said Mary.

CHAPTER XXI.

Shooting Loons—­Why the Loon has a Flat Back, Red
Eyes, and Such Queer Feet—­Nanahboozhoo Loses His
Dinner—­Origin of Lichens—­Why Some Willows are
Red—­The Partridge.

Nothing gave the children greater pleasure than to
have the Indians take them in their canoes for a couple
of hours’ trip on the bright waters of the beautiful
lake that spread out before their home.

These pleasant outings were sometimes rendered exciting
and doubly interesting by the sight of a black bear
or a deer wandering on the shore or swimming from
some point on the island. At other times there
would be numbers of loons, or great Northern divers,
as they are generally called. Their wonderful
quickness in diving, then the length of time that they
could remain under the water and the great distance
they would swim before coming to the surface were
watched with great interest by both Sagastao and Minnehaha.

The Indians did not often hunt loons. In fact
they found it so difficult to shoot one that more
than its value in ammunition was generally expended
in the attempt. The Indians always declared that
these clever birds could see the flash of their guns
and dive down out of danger before the shot reached
them.